Enter SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives. In 22 chapters throughout Florida, executives who have worked at some of the nation's top companies provide one-on-one counseling to small-business owners who need help getting a new venture off the ground or solving a specific business challenge. The confidential counseling is free.
SCORE is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit association which receives federal assistance in the form of office space and supplies provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA). In 1996, the organization served more than 12,000 Florida entrepreneurs. SCORE's volunteer counselors in Florida include the former chairman of American Motors of Canada, the former director of civilian personnel for the Air Force and executives from Texaco, Remington Rand and General Motors, to name a few. "When you're talking to a SCORE counselor, you're talking to someone who's had 35 years on the line, managing or directing a business," says Jim Eagan, chairman of the southwest Florida SCORE chapter in Fort Myers.
While SCORE counselors draw on a wealth of practical, real-life experiences, they may not be up-to-date on some topics. The retired executives admit their knowledge lags on new technologies such as the Internet. And there are few women counselors.
For Kirwan, who worked primarily with Bill DeCastro at the Space Coast chapter in Melbourne, SCORE's advice helped him grow Coastal Management's client list from just two in 1994 to 135 surgical centers, nursing homes and other businesses. "They showed us how to structure a business plan and put together a marketing plan," says Kirwan. "They really played an integral part in the building of our business." To find the nearest SCORE office, check the white pages of the telephone book or call the SBA in Jacksonville, (904) 443-1900, or Miami, (305) 536-5521.
Next Stop, Japan
The USA/Japan Trade Expansion Center (JTEC), a Pensacola-based national non-profit organization funded by the Small Business Administration, is sponsoring an export mission to Japan for small and medium-size businesses from October 17 to 24. "We really want to focus on companies that are ready for export," says Miki Nakamura, interim director of JTEC. "We will tell them up-front if we don't think they are ready."
Export mission participants will work with JTEC and the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry to arrange one-on-one business appointments with potential Japanese customers in the Kansai region, which includes Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Nara. The U.S. businesses also will have individual booths at the Global Opportunities Convention, a major international trade show in Osaka on October 20 to 22. JTEC provides participating businesses with pre-mission one-on-one counseling and literature on the Japanese market. In Japan, there will be briefings on the current economic and political climate.
The cost is approximately $4,500 per person, including round-trip airfare to Osaka from Los Angeles, New York City or Washington, D.C., hotel accommodations, matchmaking and counseling services. Applications, which are due this month, must be approved by JTEC. For more information, call 800/511-7024.
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BUSINESS START - UPS
An Interactive Workshop
Thinking of starting a business? The University of North Florida's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Bay Hill Digital Development have developed an inexpensive, convenient and fun way to learn the nuts and bolts of business ownership - all from the comfort of your home.
Early this year, the Jacksonville SBDC put its popular "How to Start Up Your Own Business" workshop on computer disk. It's designed both to reinforce the information taught at the SBDC's on-site seminars at UNF and for entrepreneurs who can't or don't want to sit through a three-hour class.
With lots of graphics and interactive tools, the program covers how to select a business idea, test the market, acquire capital, write a business plan, project cash flow, understand legal requirements and find business assistance.
To show how a real business would implement each topic, the computer program lets the user follow a sample business, Jungle Jim's Safari Lawn Service. Also, a bibliography on each topic shows where to find more information.
The "interactive workshop" comes on two 3 1/2" disks for both Macintosh (7.1 or higher) and Windows (3.1 or better) computer systems. The cost is $20 ($25 by mail) for on-site workshop attendees at UNF in Jacksonville; $45 for those who do not attend an on-site workshop. For more information, call 904/646-2476.
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CONFERENCES
10 Cost-Saving Tips For Florida Meetings
While small businesses don't have the same leverage as large corporations and associations when planning a meeting or conference, the following 10 strategies can help small businesses control costs:
Be flexible with dates. "Call the sales manager and say, 'You tell me,'" advises David Randel, director of marketing for Marriott's Orlando World Center Resort and Conference Center. If you are willing to meet around a holiday, such as the week before Thanksgiving, just before Christmas or immediately following New Year's Day, you'll almost always get a good deal.
Consider Florida's seasons. Although parts of Florida, such as Orlando, are year-round destinations, in most places "high season" is generally December through April, "low season" May through November.
Reduce meal costs by "guaranteeing" less than 100% of your meeting's participants for lunch or dinner. Say there are 100 people attending the meeting. Odds are that at least a few will skip lunch, so you should guarantee and pay for 97 meals. Since hotels almost always prepare 3% to 5% more meals than stated in the guarantee, there will be meals available if all 100 do attend the lunch. (Of course, if 100 eat lunch, you'll pay for 100 meals.)
If you need a hotel meeting room, but not overnight accommodations, try a hotel near one of Florida's many convention centers, says Sherry Hollis, owner of 1st Resort Meetings & More, a Clearwater meeting planning company. Often those hotels fill sleeping rooms with convention goers and they have plenty of meeting space available.
Book at a hotel that hasn't opened yet. "If the meeting is far enough in the future, book the meeting at a hotel property that is in "pre-opening" status," suggests Hollis.
Ask for a package. In a bid to attract more small-business meetings, many hotel chains now have package deals that include meeting and sleeping accommodations, meals, audio/visual equipment and miscellaneous set-up materials.
Calculate the total amount your group likely will spend at the hotel, including restaurant tabs, golf and tennis fees and so forth. Use this as leverage in negotiating the price of meeting space and food costs.
If your organization is tax exempt, remember to ask the hotel to waive tax on rooms, food and beverages.
When you have multiple meetings coming up, negotiate a package deal for all of them at the same time.
Investigate alternative meeting sites. There may be a trade or professional association, executive office suite or nonprofit group that rents meeting space. Check with professional contacts for possible sites.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Working With A Meeting Planner
Why should I hire a meeting planner?
Professional meeting planners have industry contacts and contract negotiating experience. "We not only save them a lot of time," says Orlando meeting planner Joyce Steele, "We save them money."
What will it cost?
Fees vary widely, but in general 75% of meeting planners charge clients a flat fee and the rest work on commission. Flat fees are based on the time it takes to plan the meeting, number of attendees and meeting length. Commission-based planners receive a percentage from hotels and resorts, but may also charge an hourly or daily consulting fee.
How do I find a meeting planner?
Try checking with Meeting Professionals International in Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville.
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COMPANY PROFILE:SOUTHERN EXPOSURE U.S.A.
Sun Mate
A Panama City Beach housewife turns a day at the beach into a $500,000 business.
Beautifully bronzed bodies are out, sunscreen is in for Floridians in the 1990s. Without a beach blanket companion, though, applying that SPF 30 in hard-to-reach places is easier said than done.
Sandy Mandigo, 37, faced that problem as she and her two young sons relaxed on the sand near her Panama City Beach home in 1994. Unlike most beachgoers, though, Mandigo didn't just bemoan the difficulty of applying sunscreen, she researched, designed and manufactured an applicator device. Now she's pulling in close to $500,000 a year selling the patented product to sunscreen maker Hawaiian Tropic and through major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Revco drug stores.
How did Mandigo turn her idea into reality? "A lot of trial and error," she says. Mandigo's sunscreen-applicator design consists of a 12-inch folding plastic wand with a plush nylon sunscreen-applicator pad on one end. "I started doodling the design of it on the beach," she says, adding, "when I came home, I started doing it out of modeling clay."
She researched patent procedures, materials and Florida toolmakers who could make the product, finally settling on Magna Manufacturing in Fort Walton Beach. To fund the $15,000 to $20,000 in manufacturing and other start-up costs, she used personal savings and, when necessary, credit cards.
With a black plastic prototype in hand and a few cups of McDonald's coffee to pump up her courage, Mandigo approached local beach stores. "The first store bought them," she says. "I was thrilled."
After her initial success, Mandigo manufactured 4,000 applicators (1,000 each in fluorescent pink, blue, green and yellow), sold out within a couple months, and was on her way with the product she dubbed "Sun Mate."
Last year, after just two years in business, Mandigo's company, Southern Exposure U.S.A. Inc., posted sales of about $300,000 and made a profit. The company sold 150,000 Sun Mates, which wholesale for about $2 and retail for $2.99 to $3.99. In 1997, she expects sales of $500,000.
"This year has been a tremendous boom," says Mandigo, noting deals to put Sun Mate in Revco and Big B drug stores nationwide and Wal-Mart stores throughout Florida and select out-of-state beach communities. She also has an order from Hawaiian Tropic for more than 30,000 applicators that will be packaged with a new sun lotion and is working on a deal with QVC to sell a Hawaiian Tropic/Sun Mate package.
Beyond the sun products industry, Mandigo has sold 15,000 of the applicators to a California company that will distribute it as a medicine applicator for elderly and arthritic patients.
Her advice to other entrepreneurs: "You just have to go for it," says Mandigo. "You can't stop."
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Small Talk
ADA Update
In late April, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission issued new guidelines for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 that clarify that mental impairment is a "disability" as defined by the law. The guidelines further state that businesses must not discriminate against qualified workers with mental illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and personality disorders. For the full text of the guidelines, call the ADA Information line at 800/514-0301 or check the Internet (http://www.eeoc.gov/publicat.html).
Lending Cutback
The Small Business Administration announced further restrictions on its popular 7(a) guaranteed loan program due to a shortage of federal funds. Loan approvals will be limited to $80 million per week until the SBA is able to work with Congress on a solution to the funding problems. In May, the SBA put a $500,000 loan cap on 7(a) loans, down from $1 million.
Learn To Permit
The Florida Chamber of Commerce hosts its Eleventh Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School from July 16 to 18 at the Marriott Marco Island Resort. Classes are specifically designed for engineers, attorneys, planners, architects, developers, government officials and realtors seeking basic or advanced information on Florida permitting. The cost for Florida chamber members is $455; $495 for non-members. For more information, call 904/681-2550.
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